Laboratory Studies Of Wind Stress Over Surface Waves

Simultaneous laboratory observations of wind speed, wind stress, and surfacewind-wave spectra are made under a variety of wind forcing patterns using cleanwater as well as water containing an artificial surfactant. Under typical experimentalconditions, more than half of the total stress is supported by the wave-induced stressrather than by the surface viscous stress. When the surfactant reduces the shortwind-wave spectra, the wind stress also decreases by as much as 20–30% at agiven wind speed. When the wind forcing is modulated in time, the wind stresstends to be higher under decreasing wind than under increasing wind at a givenwind speed, mainly because the response of short wind-wave spectra to varyingwind forcing is delayed in time. These examples clearly demonstrate that therelationship between the wind speed and the wind stress can be significantlymodified if the surface wave field is not in equilibrium with the wind forcing.Next, we examine whether the wind stress is estimated accurately if the wave-inducedstress by all surface wave components is explicitly evaluated by linear superpositionand is added to the surface viscous stress. It is assumed that the surface viscous stressis uniquely related to the wind speed, and that the wind input rate is determined by thelocal, reduced turbulent stress rather than the total stress. Our wind stress estimatesincluding the wave contributions agree well with observed wind stress values, evenif the surface wave field is away from its equilibrium with the wind in the presenceof surface films and/or under time-transient wind forcing. These observations stronglysuggest that the wind stress is accurately evaluated as a sum of the wave-induced stressand the surface viscous stress. At very high winds, our stress estimates tend to be lowerthan the observations. We suspect that this is because of the enhancement of wind stressover very steep (or breaking) short wind-waves.     

An experimental study on felsic rock–artificial seawater interaction: implications for hydrothermal alteration and sulfate formation in the Kuroko mining area of Japan

Experimental studies on the interactions between artificial seawater (ASW) and fresh rhyolite, perlite and weakly altered dacitic tuff containing a small amount of smectite suggest changing cation transfer during smectite-forming processes. Initially, dissolution of K from the rocks accompanies incorporation of Mg and Ca from ASW during both earlier (devitrification stage) and later smectite formation, whereas Ca incorporated with early smectite formation redissolves with progressive reaction. Barium mobility increases toward the later smectite-forming reactions. Therefore, the large amounts of barite, anhydrite and gypsum in Kuroko ore deposits are considered to have precipitated from hydrothermal solutions derived from the interaction with previously altered felsic rocks during late smectite formation, rather than by the reaction with fresh felsic rocks.Editorial handling: D. Lentz     

Seepage response along an alluvial valley in a semi‐arid catchment in north‐central California

Over a period of 12 months, soil moisture content and potential was monitored in an annual‐grass‐dominated 20 ha catchment in order to determine flow paths leading to exfiltration at the catchment outlet. Water was found to enter the catchment valley either through flow originating in the slopes or through surface infiltration during rainfall events. Although subsurface flow from the slopes to the catchment outlet occurred throughout the year, surface recharge was restricted to a few events during the wet season. In the deeper saturated profile of the valley, flow was directed upwards along the valley edges and gradually became horizontal towards the central axis of the valley. During the peak of the rainfall season, horizontal flow close to the catchment outlet intercepted the gradually sloping surface, resulting in exfiltration. Plants influenced the hydrology of the catchment by removing moisture from the root zone during spring and early summer, resulting in evapotranspiration losses from the vadose zone. Heterogeneities within the valley soil were evident as variable‐permeability layers that resulted in a seasonally confined water table within the valley. This investigation shows that the vadose zone plays an important role in redistributing surface recharge and emphasizes the importance of accounting for effective moisture in low‐yielding catchments with ephemeral surface runoff. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stem waves along vertical wall due to random wave incidence

This study investigates stem waves, propagating along a vertical wall, due to obliquely incident random waves through laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. Attention is paid to the difference or similarity between the stem waves due to periodic waves and random waves, the nonlinear and linear characteristics, and the effect of wave breaking on the evolution of stem waves. The following were found from this study: as the incident angle of waves become large or the nonlinearity of the incident waves become small, the significant stem wave height, normalized by the incident significant wave height, becomes large. This tendency is the same as that generated by the Stokes waves or cnoidal waves. However, regardless of the nonlinearity of incident waves, the width of stem waves is almost the same. This is a different point between the stem waves due to periodic and random waves. The wave breaking suppresses the growth of the stem waves.     

Research note: deblended-data reconstruction using generalized blending and deblending models

We introduce a concept of generalized blending and deblending, develop its models and accordingly establish a method of deblended-data reconstruction using these models. The generalized models can handle real situations by including random encoding into the generalized operators both in the space and time domain, and both at the source and receiver side. We consider an iterative optimization scheme using a closed-loop approach with the generalized blending and deblending models, in which the former works for the forward modelling and the latter for the inverse modelling in the closed loop. We applied our method to existing real data acquired in Abu Dhabi. The results show that our method succeeded to fully reconstruct deblended data even from the fully generalized, thus quite complicated blended data. We discuss the complexity of blending properties on the deblending performance. In addition, we discuss the applicability to time-lapse seismic monitoring as it ensures high repeatability of the surveys. Conclusively, we should acquire blended data and reconstruct deblended data without serious problems but with the benefit of blended acquisition.     

Variations in snowmelt energy and energy balance characteristics with larch forest density on Mt Iwate,Japan: observations and energy balance analyses

The variation in snowmelt energy and energy components were evaluated with respect to forest density. Surface snowmelt rates, surface evaporation from snow cover and meteorological elements were measured in the open and under sparse (411 trees/ha) and dense (1433 trees/ha) larch canopies. The surface snowmelt rate decreased as the forest density increased. Based on the observations and energy balance analyses, we concluded the following. (1) Albedo decreased while the bulk coefficient for latent heat increased with forest density. (2) The duration of snowmelt increased with forest density because the energy for nocturnal cooling of the snow cover decreased. (3) When comparing the open and forested sites, the changes in snowmelt energy with forest density were caused by sensible heat flux. However, the contribution of net radiation was highest in the forested sites. Therefore, the effects of forest cover on the snowmelt energy were different when comparing both the open and forested sites and the sparse and densely forested sites. (4) The ratio of net radiation to snowmelt energy increased with forest density; although both snowmelt energy and net radiation decreased with increased forest density, the snowmelt energy decreased more rapidly. Sensible heat also decreased as forest density increased. Both albedo and downward long‐wave radiation influenced net radiation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mobility-dependent response of aquatic animal species richness to a wetland network in an agricultural landscape

Management of wetland connectivity is important for biodiversity conservation. In the modern agricultural landscape, the natural connections between floodplain wetlands have been greatly altered. Agricultural ditches and channelized streams are widely distributed in floodplains, which may contribute to the maintenance of wetland connectivity and biodiversity. To determine how these watercourse networks affect wetland biodiversity, we examined the relationship between the species richness of aquatic animals and wetland connectivity, with a special focus on species mobility. From July to August 2011, fish and aquatic insects were collected from 24 wetlands in northern Japan. To determine the degree of wetland connectivity, we assessed the relative importance of individual wetlands in maintaining the entire wetland network using two connectivity indices: hydrologic connectivity via watercourses and spatial connectivity defined as Euclidian distances between wetlands using graph theory. We found that only high mobility groups of both taxa could enhance species richness in either a hydrologic (fish) or spatial (insect) wetland network. The species richness of insects with high-flying ability was found to increase as spatial connectivity increased. Furthermore, the species richness of fish with high-swimming ability was positively influenced by hydrologic connectivity, most likely because highly mobile species were able to reach suitable habitats and migrate from source populations in a wetland network owing to their good mobility. Our findings indicate that hydrologic network is important for maintaining biodiversity as well as spatial connectivity. It is important to focus conservation efforts on key wetlands with high hydrologic and spatial connectivity in future wetland management.     

Study on the selection of unsaturated flow model for the different types of soil and soft rock

Precise estimation of unsaturated hydraulic properties of porous media is indispensable in various study areas, such as analyzing the moisture flow, the drying process occurring from the surface, and the pollutant migration beneath the ground surface. Although many empirical/theoretical models describing the unsaturated hydraulic properties have been proposed by several previous researchers, the best model for the different types of soil/rock may not be identical. Thus, the model selection process and the estimation technique of the parameters included in the models should be developed. In the present study, the inverse technique based on the transient evaporation change was investigated to select the model and estimate the model parameters. The experimental work was based on a relatively low permeable soft rock and a relatively high permeable sandy soil (Toyoura standard sand). Experimental equipment was developed to precisely measure the evaporation rate for the high permeable sandy soil. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) was adopted in the inverse technique as an optimization tool. In order to simplify the problem, only the drying process from the saturated condition was considered. It was established that the information concerning the transient evaporation change could be used for the model selection and parameter estimation. Further, the saturation distribution could be used for the selection of the models. The present study provides important information for the development of the model selection process.     

Characteristics of Triassic epithermal Au mineralization at the Q prospect,Chatree mining area,Central Thailand

The Chatree deposit is located in the Loei‐Phetchabun‐Nakhon Nayok volcanic belt that extends from Laos in the north through central and eastern Thailand into Cambodia. Gold‐bearing quartz veins at the Q prospect of the Chatree deposit are hosted within polymictic andesitic breccia and volcanic sedimentary breccia. The orebodies of the Chatree deposit consist of veins, veinlets and stockwork. Gold‐bearing quartz veins are composed mainly of quartz, calcite and illite with small amounts of adularia, chlorite and sulfide minerals. The gold‐bearing quartz veins were divided into five stages based on the cross‐cutting relationship and mineral assemblage. Intense gold mineralization occurred in Stages I and IV. The mineral assemblage of Stages I and IV is characterized by quartz–calcite–illite–laumontite–adularia–chlorite–sulfide minerals and electrum. Quartz textures of Stages I and IV are also characterized by microcrystalline and flamboyant textures, respectively. Coexistence of laumontite, illite and chlorite in the gold‐bearing quartz vein of Stage IV suggests that the gold‐bearing quartz veins were formed at approximately 200°C. The flamboyant and brecciated textures of the gold‐bearing quartz vein of Stage IV suggest that gold precipitated with silica minerals from a hydrothermal solution that was supersaturated by boiling. The δ¹⁸O values of quartz in Stages I to V range from +10.4 to +11.6‰ except for the δ¹⁸O value of quartz in Stage IV (+15.0‰). The increase in δ¹⁸O values of quartz at Stage IV is explained by boiling. P_H2O is estimated to be 16 bars at 200°C. The f_CO2 value is estimated to be 1 bar based on the presence of calcite in the mineral assemblage of Stage IV. The total pressure of the hydrothermal solution is approximately 20 bars at 200°C, suggesting that the gold‐bearing quartz veins of the Q prospect formed about 200 m below the paleosurface.